System and method for providing location information to a public safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from a softphone

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing location information to a public safety answering point from a softphone may include receiving, at a network access point, an emergency 911 call from the softphone. The emergency 911 call may be communicated to a public safety answering point. In response to a call connection message being received, an address location of the network access point to which the softphone is in communication in placing the emergency 911 call to the public safety answering point may be communicated in a type II caller ID data packet. The softphone may generate the type II caller ID data packet with the address location in a data field, such as a data field typically used for name information of a caller.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/974,775, filed Oct. 16, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,289,953 by Amar N.Ray et al. and entitled, “System and Method for Providing LocationInformation to a Public Safety Answering Point During an Emergency 911Call from a Softphone,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

The National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) is theexecutive branch's advisory agency on telecommunications issues. In theearly 1980s, this agency proposed a plan to raise awareness of a singleemergency telephone number to the general public. From that program, theNational Emergency Number Association (NENA), a non-profit organization,was created. NENA has since become a leading organization to improvingtechnology and developing guidelines for 9-1-1 (“911”) telephone calls(i.e., emergency telephone calls) to improve response by emergencyrescue teams.

Telecommunications has been changing rapidly over the past severalyears, primarily since the development and growth of the mobiletelephone industry and the Internet. New forms of telecommunicationshave been developing as well. Traditional telecommunications wereperformed over the public switch telephone network (PSTN). A system tomaintain location of subscribers of telecommunications companiesoperating on the PSTN was developed. Determining the location ofsubscribers of the telecommunications companies was relatively easy asthe locations of telephones were known by the telecommunicationscompanies or carriers due to installing the telephones, establishingbilling, or otherwise. However, with the new forms oftelecommunications, subscribers are able to use wireless devices thatmay access different wireless access points to communicate over acommunications network, such as the Internet. One common interface forwireless access to a communications network includes an IEEE 802.11communications protocol, which is commonly known by the brand name WiFi.Wireless devices are being configured to have WiFi communicationsprotocols to enable a subscriber to access WiFi enabled access points.Many WiFi enabled wireless devices have global positioning system (GPS)capabilities that are able to communicate GPS location information(i.e., latitude and longitude coordinates) of the WiFi enabled device.While GPS location information may be helpful to track or locate aperson at a precise geographical location, such information is notextremely useful in an emergency situation where emergency rescue teams,such as firemen and police, better understand address information forperforming an emergency rescue in an emergency situation.

A softphone is commonly understood to mean a software application thatis executed by a computing device for initiating and communicating voicecalls using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or other protocol. Thenumber of softphone users is growing due to advancement of broadband andWiFi technology.

As understood in the art, DHCP servers are used to manage IP addresses.The DHCP servers ensure that no two computers or devices use the same IPaddress. Because softphones operate on computing devices and eachcomputing device has an associated IP address, each softphone isassociated with a unique IP address.

A public safety answering position (PSAP) is used by emergency servicesto answer calls from the public to notify emergency personnel, such aspolice or firemen, to respond to an emergency situation. Traditionally,a caller would contact a PSAP and provide location information duringthe telephone call. When caller identification (i.e., caller ID) wasintroduced, PSAPs were installed with telephone systems compatible withcaller ID to identify names and phone numbers of individuals placingemergency 911 calls. This first version of caller ID is known as type Icaller ID. Type I caller ID operates in a single data message format(SDMF) as well as multiple data message format (MDMF) that provide acaller's telephone number, date and time of the call during the ringinginterval.

A second type of caller ID or type II caller ID was later developed tocommunicate name and address information of a second calling party to acalled party when a call between a called party and a first callingparty is in progress. Type II caller ID uses a multiple data messageformat (MDMF) that communicates a caller's name, telephone number, dateand time. Enhanced 911 is a North American Telephone Network (NATN)feature of the 911-emergency-calling system that uses a reversetelephone directory provided by cellular telephone companies todetermine location information of a caller.

There are two types of E911 systems that operate within the UnitedStates, Phase I and Phase II. E911 Phase I systems are required toprovide an operator with the telephone number, originator, and locationof the cell site or base station receiving a 911 call. E911 Phase IIsystems are required to use an automatic location identification (ALI).However, only 18% of all PSAPs are configured with E911 Phase IIsystems. The remaining 82% of PSAPs are configured with E911 Phase Isystems, which are incapable of handling GPS coordinates, and,therefore, subscribers who have wireless telephones that use GPScoordinates for 911 emergency calls cannot be properly serviced by thesePSAPs. If a caller is using a non-cellular wireless device, such as aWiFi enabled wireless device (e.g., softphone), an operator at a PSAPwith E911 Phase I capabilities is unable to determine address locationbased on GPS coordinates that are received from the caller. Assoftphones are often used in laptop computers that are moved from onenetwork access point, such as a WiFi access point, to another, emergency911 calls may be placed from locations other than a user's home. Manynewer laptop computers are installed with GPS capabilities to be usedfor certain applications, such as an emergency 911 calls. Softphoneswith GPS capabilities suffer from the limitations described above.Furthermore, there is currently no solution for softphone that connectto wireless network access points in handling emergency 911 calls.

SUMMARY

To enable softphone with emergency 911 capabilities, the principles ofthe present invention provide for softphones to store current addresslocations and communicate the current address locations whencommunicating with a public safety answering point. The softphone maygenerate a type II caller ID data packet and include the current addresslocation in the type II caller ID data packet in by placing the currentaddress location in a name field so that the address locationinformation may be displayed at the public safety answering point. Asthe softphone is moved between network access points, a DHCP server thatdetermines that the softphone has a new location or IP address maynotify the softphone to update the current address location.

One embodiment of a system for providing location information to apublic-safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from asoftphone may include a network access point configured to receive callsfrom softphones. A soft-switch may be in communication with the networkaccess point, and the network access point may be configured tocommunicate a call from a softphone to the soft-switch. A database maybe configured to store network address information of selective routerson a network through which information is communicated to public safetyanswering points operating to service emergency 911 calls. A gateway maybe in communication with the network access point, soft-switch, anddatabase, and, in response to receiving an emergency 911 call from thesoftphone via the soft-switch, the gateway may request selective routerinformation, from the database, of a selective router through whichinformation is to be sent to a public safety answering point servicingan area including the network access point during the emergency 911call. The softphone, in response to receiving an indication that anemergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point,may communicate address location information of the softphone to thepublic safety answering point. In one embodiment, the address locationinformation is communicated in a type II caller ID data packet from thesoftphone. A user of the softphone may be requested by the softphone toprovide a current address location at which the softphone is located inresponse to a DHCP server providing an indication to the softphone thatthe softphone has changed locations.

One method for providing location information to a public safetyanswering point from a softphone may include receiving, at a networkaccess point, an emergency 911 call from the softphone. The emergency911 call may be communicated to a public safety answering point. Inresponse to a call connection message being received, an addresslocation of the network access point to which the softphone is incommunication in placing the emergency 911 call to the public safetyanswering point may be communicated in a type II caller ID data packet.

One embodiment of a softphone operating on a computing device mayinclude a telephone module configured to enable a user to placeemergency 911 telephone calls. An address location update module may beconfigured to determine that location of the softphone has changed,request a current address location from a user of the softphone, andstore the current address location. The telephone module may further beconfigured to look-up the current address location in response toreceiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with apublic safety answering point, and communicate the current addresslocation to the public safety answering point.

A method for identifying location of a softphone fur use in placingemergency 911 calls may include enabling a user to place a telephonecall including emergency 911 telephone calls from a softphone. Adetermination that location of the softphone has changed may be made. Acurrent address location may be requested from a user of the softphone.The current address location may be stored and looked-up in response toreceiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with apublic safety answering point. The current address location may becommunicated to the public safety answering point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the method and apparatus of the presentinvention may be obtained by reference to the following DetailedDescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawingswherein:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary network to enable a softphoneto communicate with a PSAP and provide the PSAP with address locationinformation of a caller using the softphone;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an exemplary softphone application;

FIG. 1C is a screen shot of an exemplary user interface to enable a userto change current address location of the softphone;

FIG. 2 is another exemplary network showing signals communicatinglocation information of a user using a softphone;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a softphone connecting to a network via abroadband network access point;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary signaling structure forcommunicating address information of a network access point in a type IIcaller ID data packet;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for updating currentlocation information of a softphone; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for a softphone beingconnected with a PSAP and communicating address location information ofa network access device to the PSAP using a type II caller ID datapacket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary network 100 for enabling auser of computing device 102 with a voice interactive device 104 tooperate softphone software. The computing device 102 that executessoftphone software and combined with the voice interactive device 104 isconsidered a softphone 105, which may be used by a user to place phonecalls over the network 100. As understood in the art, a softphone is acomputing device that executes telephony software that enables users toplace telephone calls over data networks, such as the Internet, withother softphones operating on the data networks and over telephonynetworks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) andmobile networks via the data networks.

The network 100 may include one or more network access points 106 a-106n (collectively 106) that enables the softphone 105 to access thenetwork. The softphone 105 may communicate via the softphone using awire or wireless connection. In one embodiment, the network accesspoints 106 a-106 n are wireless and utilize an 802.11 communicationsprotocol, which is commonly known as (WiFi) communications protocol, andmay enable the softphone, if WiFi enabled, to communicate wirelesslytherewith. Alternatively, other communications protocols may beutilized. An access point controller and gateway (“Gateway”) 108 may bein communication with each of the access points 106. The controller mayoperate to register each of the access points 106 to enablecommunications from the access points 106 to be recognized andprocessed. The gateway 108 may be in communication with or operate asoft-switch 110, which is software that operates to receive and routecalls from softphones and other network devices. The controller 108 mayalso be in communication with a database 112 that stores networkaddresses of selective routers located on the network 100.

As understood in the art, the PSTN includes many selective routers thatare associated with thousands of PSAPs in the United States. Becausethere are so many selective routers and PSAPs located on the PSTN, thegateway 108 has to determine which selective router to send informationto handle an emergency 911 call being placed via a network access point.The database 112 that stores the network address information ofselective routers associated with PSAPs servicing an area which thenetwork access points 106 are located enables the gateway 108, inresponse to receiving an emergency 911 call, to route information to thecorrect PSAP to handle the emergency 911 call.

A local exchange carrier selective router 114, which is one of manyselective routers located on the PSTN, is used to route emergency 911calls to PSAPs. The selective router 114 may be in communication with aselective router database 116, which operates to manage network addressinformation of PSAPs 118 that service emergency 911 calls for geographiclocations in which the network access points 106 are operating. A PSAP118 is used to receive emergency 911 calls from the public. As shown,the PSAP 118 may receive calls from softphones, such as softphone 105.Automated location identifier (ALI) engine 120 may receive GPSinformation from the PSAP 118 and determine specific address locationinformation closest to or at the GPS coordinates received from the PSAP.The ALI 120 may be local or remote, but a remote ALI may be operated bya third-party on a mainframe computer and have increased capabilitiesover a local ALI.

A dynamic host configuration protocol server (DHCP) 122 may be incommunication with the gateway 108. As understood in the art, DHCP is aset of rules used by communications devices, such as a computer, router,or network adapter, to enable communications devices to request andobtain unique IP addresses from a DHCP server, such as DHCP server 122,that has a list of IP addresses available for assignment. In the eventthat DHCP server 122 or controller 108 determines that a computingdevice, such as computing device 102, on which a softphone is operatinghas changed locations or IP addresses, a request or command may beissued from the DHCP server 122 to the softphone 105 to request that auser enter a new address location for the softphone 105.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an exemplary softphone softwareapplication 124 that may be executed on a computing device, such ascomputing device 102. The softphone software application 124 may includea telephone module 126 and address location update module 128. It shouldbe understood that each of the modules 126 and 128 may includeadditional and more specific modules that perform functions to enableeach of the modules 126 and 128 to operate as a softphone. For example,current GPS location module 130 and generate type II caller ID module132 may be utilized to determine current GPS coordinates and generatingtype II caller ID data packets.

The telephone module 126 is configured to enable a user to be able toplace and receive telephone calls from a computing device, such ascomputing device 102. The telephone module 126 may provide a graphicaluser interface that displays digit and function keys to enable a user todial a phone number, select previously dialed phone numbers, answerincoming calls, adjust volume, select voice interactive device (e.g.,wired and wireless headsets), receive and manage voicemails, select callwaiting calls, perform three-way calling, set call forwarding, orperform any other telephony operation. The telephone module 126 isconfigured to enable a user to place an emergency 911 call by pressing asingle function key (e.g., “911” key) or dial 9-1-1 and press a dialsoft-button, as normally done. The telephone module 126 may further beconfigured to look-up the current address location of the softphone inresponse to receiving notification that an emergency 911 call isconnected with a public safety answering point and communicate thecurrent address location to the public safety answering point.

The address location update module 128 may be configured to manageaddress locations that the softphone has been and set current addressesin response to a signal or command indicative of the softphone changinglocation based on being assigned a different IP address than previouslyassigned or otherwise. The address location update module 128 mayautomatically request a current address location from a user of thesoftphone by prompting the user with a text entry field, map interface,or any other graphical user interface function or feature. In addition,the address location update module 128 may be manually activated inresponse to a user requesting to provide a current address location. Theaddress location update module 128 may access a local or remote databasethat includes previous address locations at which the softphone waslocated to enable a user to simply select from a list of previousaddress locations, thereby simplifying entering a current addresslocation for the user. In one embodiment, the list is a drop down list,as further described with regard to FIG. 1C.

Current GPS location module 130 may enable the softphone to access acurrent location from a GPS receiver or other location determinationmodule (e.g., triangulation) configured within the computing device.Generate type II caller ID module 132 may be configured to generate typeII caller ID data packets. In accordance with the principles of thepresent invention, when the softphone software application 124 is beingutilized to place an emergency 911 call, the generate type II caller IDmodule 132 may include current address location in a name data field,thereby causing the current address location of the softphone to bedisplayed on a type II caller ID device at the PSAP.

FIG. 1C is a screen shot of an exemplary softphone user interface 134 toenable a user to change current address location of the softphone. Akeypad interface 136 may enable to press number keys 138 a-1381 to diala telephone number, such as 911, and feature codes, such as *67 (blockcaller ID). Function keys 140 a-104 e may also be included in the userinterface 134 to enable the user to perform certain functions that areconventional and/or particular to softphones. For example, a “talk”function key 140 a may enable a user to initiate a call or dial atelephone number after entering the telephone number. A “name” functionkey 140 e may enable a user to associate a name with a telephone number,such as “Tom Brady” with telephone number 617 555-1278, thereby enablingthe user to select, sort, or search for a name for selection to place atelephone call to the named telephone number. As shown, the namedtelephone numbers may be alphabetically listed in a list 142.

A current address location section 144 may show a current addresslocation of the softphone. A “new” softbutton 146 may enable a user tomanually enter or select a new address location in which the softphoneis located. A previous locations list 148 may be displayed to enable theuser to select a location at which the softphone was located. If theuser is at a location not previously located, he or she may be providedwith an address location entry template (not shown) in which the addresslocation, including name (e.g., stadium, airport, building, etc.),street address, floor, terminal, office, city, state, and zip code maybe entered. It should be understood that a wide variety of addresslocation information fields may be provided in the address locationentry template for the user to enter the address location.

FIG. 2 is another exemplary network showing signals 200 communicatinglocation information of a user using softphone 105. In placing anemergency 911 call, the softphone 105 may communicate a mobile directorynumber (MDN), global positioning system coordinates (GPS), andabbreviated dialing code (ADC) to the network access point 106 a at step202. The ADC may be a code pre-defined to represent an 911 code that isused to notify the network access point 106 a and gateway/soft-switch108 that a call is an emergency 911 call. The MDN, GPS, and ADC arecommunicated to the gateway/soft-switch 108/110 at step 204. At step206, the gateway/soft-switch 108/110 may look-up in a database, such asdatabase 112 (FIG. 1), a selective router network address of selectiverouter 116 that is in communication with public safety answering point118 that is servicing an area in which the network access point 106 a islocated.

The gateway/soft-switch 108/110 may communicate the MDN and GPSinformation to the selective router 116 at step 208. At step 210, theselective router 116 may look-up a PSAP servicing a geographic area inwhich the network access point 106 a is operating. The selective router116 may communicate the MDN and GPS information to the PSAP 118 that wasdetermined to be servicing the network access point 106 a. The PSAP 118may communicate the MDN and GPS information to the ALI 120 at step 214.In response, the ALI 120 may communicate information, including name andGPS coordinates, to the PSAP 118 in a table format for display to anoperator.

At step 220, a release answer call message (RACM) that indicates thatthe PSAP 118 goes off-hook may be sent from the PSAP 118 or switchlocated in the PTSN (not shown) to the gateway/soft-switch 108/110. Inresponse, a 200OK message, which is a data packet network analogousmessage to the analog network RACM message for session initiationprotocol (SIP) signaling, may be communicated to the softphone 105 atstep 222. At step 224, the softphone 105 may communicate an addresslocation to the PSAP 118. In one embodiment, the softphone 105 maygenerate a type II caller ID data packet to the PSAP 118 by placing theaddress location in a name field. The softphone 105 may perform such acommunication because unlike a conventional WiFi telephone, a softphone105 is operating on a computer that is capable of generating type IIcaller ID data packets or any other type of data packets. At step 226,the address location may be displayed on a type II caller ID device atthe PSAP 118.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a softphone connecting to a network 300 viaa broadband network access point, such as a DSL network access point. Asshown, a computing device 302 with an audio interactive device 304 mayoperate as a softphone 305 by executing a softphone software application(not shown). A DSL/cable router 306, which are broadband access devices,may provide an interface to an IP network 308. A soft-switch 310 may beutilized to handle calls from the softphone 305, including emergency 911calls, to determine that a call is an emergency 911 call and communicatethe call via gateway 312 to selective router 314. The call is ultimatelycommunicated to PSAP 316. In essence, the network 300 and communicationsthereon operate in the same or similar manner as the network shown inFIGS. 1A and 2. Address location information may be communicated in adata packet 318, such as a type II caller ID data packet, generated bythe softphone 305 to the PSAP 316 in response to the PSAP goingoff-hook.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary signaling structure forcommunicating address information in a type II caller ID data packet.The signaling structure format 400 may be the same or substantially thesame signaling structure as a conventional caller ID type II signalingstructure as understood in the art. The signaling structure 400 includesa number of fields, including marks 402, message type 404, messagelength 406, parameter type 408, parameter length 410, data 412,parameter type 414, parameter length 416, data 418 and check sum 420.Although the signaling structure 400 is configured for caller IDinformation, such as name and telephone number to be included in datafields 412 and 418, which are 168 bits (21 characters) and 144 bits (18characters), respectively, the principles of the present inventionprovide for including street number and street name (14 characters-112bits), street type (2 characters-16 bits), and zip code (5 characters-40bits) in the first data field 412 and date, time and phone number in thesecond data field 418. This FSK signaling structure 400 may be generatedby a softphone from address location information stored in the softphoneand included in the first data field 412. It should be understood thatthe format 400 is exemplary and that each of the data fields 412 may beallocated with different address information having different number ofcharacters or bits assigned thereto.

More specifically, the address parameter may be ASCII equivalent of thecharacters that represent the address associated with the calling accessline. The character subfields may be coded in 8-bit ASCII (no parity)with one octet per character. No characters (e.g., spaces, commas,periods, etc.) are assumed and the relevant characters are sent. Thefirst character of the address may be transmitted first and subsequentcharacters may be transmitted in order until the last character istransmitted. For example, the address “12345John Rd” may be coded over12 octets as 00110001, 00110010, 00110011, 00110100, 00110101, 01001010,01001111, 01001000, 01001110, 00100000 (space), 01010010, and 01000100.If the street number plus the street name combined is more than 14characters, then the characters after 14 characters are ignored by thesystem. If the street number plus the street name combined occupies 11characters then one space may be put before the street name, one spacebefore the street type, and another space before the street code. If thestreet number plus the street name combined occupies 12 characters, thenone space may be put before the street name and another space may be putbefore the zip code. If the street number plus the street name combinedoccupies 13 characters, then one space may be put before the streetname. To minimize the total length of the displayed address message onthe public-safety answering point side, no more than one space is putbefore the street name, street type, or zip code. If the street numberplus the street name combined occupies 14 characters, then no spaces areincluded. Additional description of the signaling structure format 400and communication thereof is described in co-owned U.S. Pat. No.8,014,341 issued Sep. 6, 2011, which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process 500 for updating currentlocation information of a softphone. The process 500 may start at step502, where the softphone may use (i) a registration request from anetwork access point or controller of a gateway or (ii) change of IPaddress as determined from a DHCP server or otherwise to detect a changein address location. In response, the softphone may alert a user toupdate current address location at step 504. In alerting the user, apop-up window or status notification message may be displayed and/oraudio signal may be played. At step 506, the user may update the addresslocation at the softphone so that, if an emergency 911 call is placedwhile at the address location, the address location may be communicatedto a PSAP.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process 600 for a softphone beingconnected with a PSAP and communicating address location information ofa network access device to the PSAP using a type II caller ID datapacket. The process 600 starts at step 602, where a softphone softwareapplication or client is configured with a current address location. Atstep 604, an emergency 911 call may be made from the softphone andreceived at a network access point, which may or may not be a broadbandnetwork access point. At step 606, the network access point sends theemergency 911 call to a soft-switch, which, in turn, detects the call asan emergency 911 call and sends a request or command to the networkaccess point to route the call to a selective router associated with anPSAP that is servicing the network access point at step 608. In routingthe call to the selective router, the network access point looks-up in adatabase the correct selective router to which to send the call. At step612, the selective router connects the emergency 911 call to the correctPSAP that the selective router determines to be servicing the area inwhich the network access point is operating. In response to the PSAPgoing off-hook in answering the emergency 911 call, the softphone maydetect a message, such as a 200OK message, to notify the softphone of asuccessful call set-up. At step 616, the softphone may send addresslocation information using a type II caller ID data packet. If thesoftphone is a fixed location softphone (e.g., if operating on a desktopcomputer rather than a portable computer), then an ALI, either local orremote, may look up the address at which the softphone is located.

The above description has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to theillustrative embodiments in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing location information to apublic-safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from asoftphone, said system comprising: a network access point configured toreceive calls from softphones; a soft-switch in communication with saidnetwork access point, said network access point configured tocommunicate a call from a softphone to said soft-switch; a databaseconfigured to store network address information of selective routers ona network through which information is communicated to public safetyanswering points operating to service emergency 911 calls; and a gatewayin communication with said network access point, soft-switch, anddatabase, and, in response to receiving an emergency 911 call from thesoftphone via said soft-switch, request selective router information,from said database, of a selective router through which information isto be sent to a public safety answering point servicing an areaincluding said network access point during the emergency 911 call, thesoftphone, in response to receiving an indication that an emergency 911call is connected with a public safety answering point, being configuredto communicate address location information of the softphone to thepublic safety answering point in a caller ID data packet including afield of the caller ID packet modified to include address locationinformation by replacing a field of the caller ID data packet with theaddress location information while leaving another field of the callerID data packet unmodified.
 2. The system according to claim 1, whereinthe address location information is communicated in a type II caller IDdata packet.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the softphoneis configured to update the address location information in response todetermining a change in position or IP address.
 4. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the softphone is configured to enable a user toenter an updated address in response to a DHCP server issuing a new IPaddress to the softphone.
 5. The system according to claim 1, whereinsaid network access point is a WiFi network access point.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 5, wherein the WiFi network access point isconfigured to receive VoIP calls from the softphones.
 7. A method forproviding location information to a public safety answering point from asoftphone, said method comprising: receiving, at a network access point,an emergency 911 call from a softphone; communicating the emergency 911call to a public safety answering point; and communicating, in responseto a call connection message being received, an address location of thesoftphone to the public safety answering point, the address locationbeing communicated in a caller ID data packet including a field of thecaller ID packet modified to include address location information byreplacing a field of the caller ID data packet with the address locationinformation while leaving another field of the caller ID data packetunmodified.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein communicatingthe address location in a caller ID data packet includes communicating atype II caller ID data packet from the softphone.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 7, further comprising routing the emergency 911 callvia a soft-switch to a gateway.
 10. The method according to claim 7,further comprising looking up a network address of a selective router towhich the public safety answering point is in communication.
 11. Themethod according to claim 7, further comprising communicating GPSinformation received from the softphone to the public safety answeringpoint.
 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein receiving theemergency 911 call includes receiving the emergency 911 call using aWiFi communications protocol.
 13. The method according to claim 7,further comprising updating the address location of the network accesspoint in response to determining that the location of the softphone haschanged.
 14. A computing device comprising: a telephone moduleconfigured to enable a user to place emergency 911 telephone calls; anaddress location update module configured to: determine that location ofthe softphone has changed; request a current address location from auser of the softphone; update the current address location; and storethe updated current address location; said telephone module furtherconfigured to: look-up the current address location in response toreceiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with apublic safety answering point; and communicate the current addresslocation to the public safety answering point in a caller ID data packetincluding a field of the caller ID packet modified to include addresslocation information by replacing a field of the caller ID data packetwith the address location information while leaving another field of thecaller ID data packet unmodified.
 15. The computing device according toclaim 14, further comprising a type II caller ID module configured togenerate a type II caller ID data packet with the address locationinformation.
 16. The computing device according to claim 14, wherein theaddress location update module is further configured to present previousaddress locations at which the softphone was located to enable a user toselect from the previous address locations to identify a current addresslocation.
 17. A method for identifying a location of a softphone for usein placing emergency 911 calls, said method comprising: enabling a userto place a telephone call including emergency 911 telephone calls from asoftphone; determining that a location of the softphone has changed;requesting a current address location from a user of the softphone;storing the current address location; looking-up the current addresslocation in response to receiving notification that an emergency 911call is connected with a public safety answering point; andcommunicating the current address location to the public safetyanswering point in a caller ID data packet including a field of thecaller ID packet modified to include address location information byreplacing a field of the caller ID data packet with the address locationinformation while leaving another field of the caller ID data packetunmodified.
 18. The method according to claim 17, further comprisinggenerating a type II caller ID data packet with the address locationinformation.
 19. The method according to claim 17, further comprisingpresenting previous address locations at which the softphone was locatedto enable a user to select from the previous address locations toidentify a current address location.